Redemption
by L.ithJayhawk
Summary: With Earth destroyed and Optimus heavily wounded, the Autobots find sanctuary on the planet of Alounara. As they try to make peace with their failed misson, an opportunity to defend their new home and redeem themselves arises. Post-ROTF/Alternate ending.
1. Chapter 1

**Redemption**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This is the result of… well, I don't know what to honestly say it's the result of. For some reason my brain had this brilliant glitch to combine Transformers and elves. The elves turned less LOTR/Inheritance-like as I went on. Have to say, I was real hesitant to put this one out because it initially seemed a bit too far-fetched/off-canon for my tastes, but have given into my addiction to reviews.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Transformers. Not even action figures. I don't own any songs Bumblebee uses to communicate. Alounara and the Dagaan, however, are of my own invention.

**COMMUNICATION KEY:**  
"English/Lyrics"  
_"Alounarian"_  
**Comm Link (Cybertronian)  
**ONBOARD COMPUTER

* * *

STASIS LOCK. 00:10:35:00.

STASIS LOCK. 00:10:30:00.

The words had been flashing in his line of vision for the last several hours of travel. First it had been "recommended," then "urgently required." Finally they were accompanied by a time, a countdown- mandatory. A planet. He desperately needed to find a planet. His stored Energon was rapidly becoming depleted, despite giving over control to his travel form's autopilot.

Several more grueling minutes passed with no sign of anything ahead besides the same sort of empty space he was already burning through. At that point, even an asteroid would do. Anything large enough to land on and prevent him from hurtling through space indefinitely and without direction while his shut-down systems recharged.

STASIS LOCK. 00:04:45:00.

…

SUN DETECTED.

Less than five minutes before a total system lockdown his instruments located the light and heat of a distant star. Immediately overriding the autopilot, he altered his course in hopes the star had any form of planetary body orbiting.

STASIS LOCK. 00:03:25:00.

A small sun came into view on his monitor, flanked by a solitary planet, green showing through the atmospheric cloud. The stasis system automatically locked onto the planet and began to direct a landing. The mech also discovered that to provide the energy to do so, the onboard computer had closed down the communication system. He would be forced to wait until he had reached the surface to contact the others. It could mean his systems locked down before he could transmit the message. It could mean by the time a message was sent, his fellow Autobots had missed this tiny solar system entirely, or gone into stasis lock themselves. It could doom Optimus- he was already heavily wounded from Earth and in no shape to travel. But with the lock system overriding everything, there was nothing he could do about it.

STASIS LOCK. 00:01:15:00.

Cutting through the atmosphere, the planet below was a blur of greens, browns, and blues. Eerily like the planet they had just left behind. The land mass below, as it streaked by, looked to be primarily coated in forest, a fact which the stasis system failed to take into account while directing the emergency landing. This was going to be rough, and not unobtrusive as he had hoped. If there was any luck on his side, though, the planet would be unoccupied.

At STASIS LOCK. 00:00:30:00. several tree trunks splintered and a dull thud echoed across the land as the Autobot's bulk impacted with the earth, forcing him to a stop. Stasis immediately began shutting systems down, and he immediately began fighting to send a comm out. The stasis system, its single-minded purpose to prevent a full Energon loss regardless of any consequences associated with a full stasis lockdown in the current location or situation, tried to override every step. The usually effortless action of sending a comm out became a tiring multi-step battle. His processing was slowing, making the transmission take even longer to put through. In a final desperate bid to prevent Optimus from tumbling uncontrollably through space and becoming lost from their ranks forever, he forced a com through to the other Autobots containing only what he could manage to relay quickly- his coordinates.

STASIS LOCK. 00:00:03:00.

Vision dimming and blurring, he mustered the last of his energy to shift into a safer mode, the most recent vehicle form he had scanned.

STASIS LOCK. 00:00:00:00.

The final pieces of the vehicle's exterior slid into place before everything on his onboard computer went suddenly and indefinitely black.

On some distant planet, a brilliantly yellow Camaro stood locked and still amidst the wreckage of ancient forest trees.

But it was not alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Systems suddenly came online.

At first it was just the simple, initial boot-up sequences, then came an overwhelming barrage of information he needed to be reminded of: who he was, where he was, his class and function, his last scanned form, which form he was currently in, the results of his prior missions…

Stasis lock was always disorienting.

Vision came online (though the color recognition hadn't) and Bumblebee groggily took a look around. The first things he noted (with relief) were the Earth-vehicle forms of Ratchet, Ironhide, Jolt, and Optimus in a rough semi-circle around him. As coloring began to flicker into the image, the Chevy turned its wheels to the right to see if his remaining comrades had also made it. Instead, he found himself face-to-bumper with the natives.

Startled, Bee both accelerated in reverse and jumped into Cybertronian form at once. He drew cannon, and finding that the others were still in stasis, adopted a defensive stance, faceplate snapping over his eyes. Many of the native warriors stepped back in shock and awe. Some took up similar defensive stances. Still others ran off, appearing to be shouting to others of their kind. Nobody rushed to attack. Backing up another step, he remained wary as he studies them.

At first glance, the mech had mistaken them for primitive humans. Obviously, however, this was not logical, and further inspection revealed them to be (as they should have been) an entirely separate species. These natives had four organs for hearing- two, on the sides of the head like humans; and another set of large, pointed ears atop the head. These seemed to vary in size, color, and shape between individuals. They had tails, which were as diverse in appearance as the top ears, and while the forelimbs appeared precisely like a human's, the hind limbs were adapted for a digitigrade form of bipedal movement. Collectively, they were all quite pale, with wide, large eyes, and dressed in an assortment of plant material and animal skins. The only metals he found in use were for crude weapons- knives, swords, arrow tips, shields- and also for adorning their bodies with jewelry and piercings.

They were whispering among themselves. And he still had not been attacked. Lowering his plasma cannon, Bumblebee used a finger to lift the plate shielding his face. A female at the front of the group of natives opposite the Autobot scout pointed a heavy wooden staff in the intruder's direction. She was seated astride a large silver deer-like creature and addressed him slowly and clearly in a foreign tongue.

_"Stranger- I am Ethiriel of the Woodland Clan. What is your business here?"_

Bumblebee, by means of his translating module, could within a few moments understand her perfectly. The female's voice was strong and she was obviously unafraid of his presence. His was a truly annoying malfunction, however as he could not respond in a language she could understand, although his translator was already busily converting his thought to the native tongue. Frustrated, Bee went to scan their radio and satellite for useful sound clips- and found nothing. No radio, no satellite, no cable television, telephone, broadband, or wireless internet. No means of long-distance data sharing at all. Disturbed, the bot took another look around, and found his surroundings consisted of nothing but forest on all sides.

A sturdily-built black-haired male at Ethiriel's side spoke quietly to her, _"I do not think it understands."_

Insulted, Bumblebee disagreed with what little noise of annoyance he could and stomped a massive foot, leaving some of the terrestrials visibly uneasy. Ethiriel merely watched him intensely, still, before repeating her query. She obviously did not doubt his ability to understand.

To indicate that he could, in fact, comprehend what he was being asked, the bot played back a recorded clip of Earth radio from his databank:

"I'm just a man who needed someone, and somewhere to hide / To keep me alive- just keep me alive. / Somewhere to hide, to keep me alive…"

_"Does he speak in song?"_ Ethiriel wondered aloud, intrigued, _"But I cannot understand the lyric."_

_"Nor can I,"_ answered a second male beside her, this one tall and sandy-haired with ears like a cat, _"but I can sense the desperation."_ Green eyes glanced from Bee to the female warrior. _"Perhaps he was fleeing from something when he crashed here?"_

_"Then…"_ Ethiriel considered a moment, before directing her question to the Autobot. _"Those,"_ she said, pointing her staff toward Ironhide and the others, _"what are they?"_ Her voice dropped lower to speak only to her kin around her, _"Perhaps it is the others we cannot trust."_

Bee had, however, overheard her, and began rapidly shaking his head to deny it. "Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends / Mmm, gonna try with a little help from my friends…" The yellow scout attempted to supplement this explanation by gesturing from his fellow Autobots to his own chassis.

Etheriel and the blonde male did not need much convincing after witnessing the foreigner's earlier defensive stance when he had felt his companions were threatened. However, the first male who had spoken still seemed suspicious, noting a conspicuous difference between the Camaro and the other machines.

_"They have not… _unfolded_, as you have."_

A gesture to wait and to pay attention later, and Bee had crouched down to phase back into a muscle car. The recorded sounds of snoring (a mattress store commercial) poured from the Chevy's speakers- a sound effect that even the suspicious warrior could comprehend and appreciate. A few of the younger-looking natives laughed. A couple even clapped as he transformed back, entranced with this visitor's strange new magic. Their earlier apprehension was quickly subsiding.

The female warrior rode her elk forward. Bee noticed there was a bow and quiver on her back, as well as a sword at her hip, and surmised (coupled with her apparent leadership and fearlessness when faced with the unknown Cybertronians) that she must have a great amount of battle experience. She rode around him, pausing at each separate vehicle in the semi-circle of stasis-locked Autobots: Ratchets's brightly colored rescue Hummer, Ironhide's imposing GMC Topkick form, Optimus's huge but beaten-up semi cab, and Jolt's sporty blue Chevrolet Volt mode. Following this inspection, Ethiriel turned the stag back to halt before Bumblebee's foot.

_"Are you their leader?"_

The converted Camaro shook his head slowly and stepped toward the silent Peterbilt truck, making mournful noises when he better observed Prime's condition. The dents and scars on his body were obvious. One of the doors did not close fully, as well as several of the panels that made up his armor not fitting together as smoothly as they should, and an exhaust stack hung at a precarious angle, threatening to detach. Their noble leader's windshield was cracked, the headlamps on one side shattered. Optimus was not looking well, even in stasis. Bee hated to think what could have happened if he had not succeeded in finding this planet.

The mech hardly noticed that the troops had fallen quiet, and Ethiriel had once again rode alongside his foot to stand her mount before the semi's warped grill.

_"He is injured?"_ she questions softly.

Bee nods dejectedly.

Ethiriel nodded once in solemn acknowledgement and turned to her small army. _"You may go home! I see no threat here."_ She then singled out the wary black-haired male. _"Amonost, you may report to the Queen."_

The gold-haired, feline-like male came to stand at her side once more as the bulk of the soldiers readied to leave. _"Are you sure they can be left unguarded?"_

The female warrior, who wore a silver circlet upon her pale hair, nods as the soldiers marched away, _"Thalion, if these metal war-gods wished us dead, we would be in our graves already. Our troops are better utilized guarding the city."_

Thalion sighs an agreement, and Bumblebee could only wonder what it meant.

_"The Dagaan."_


	3. Chapter 3

Roughly an hour after the troops' departure, the sun began to set and Ethiriel and Thalion elected to build a fire, venturing deep into the surrounding wood where Bumblebee could not follow. The bot had attempted to do so at first out of politeness, but had toppled an old oak trying to squeeze past. The two natives had seemed much upset at this, and he concluded it would be better to stay behind in the clearing.

Ethiriel's elk, now that she was not riding it, appeared terrified of the Autobot to the point of immobility. It stood white-eyed at the end of its tether, as far away as it could manage. Overcome by a mixture of curiosity and boredom, Bee reached out to undo the buck's restraint and gingerly pick the creature up with both hands. The frightened animal brayed and stiffened its spindly legs, but the Cybertronian took care not to crush or injure it. He observes that aside from a cat-like tail and antlers that grew not only upward but in a root-like pattern about the creature's head and neck, it was not unlike the deer on Earth.

However, there were no deer left on Earth. There was no anything left on Earth. As much as Bee tried to deny it, his processor kept reminding him that the mission on Earth had failed. He had failed. Failed to protect Lennox and Epps and Mikaela and all the other humans on the planet. Failed in his function as a guardian. Failed Sam.

Approaching from the side, Ethiriel saw the giant creature with Argent, her steed, clutched in his massive hands. She was about to give a cry of alarm and rush in when the alien gave forth a miserable whirring sigh, shoulders slumping. His mind was obviously not occupied with injuring her _rhiordir_.

Bumblebee barely even registered he was still holding the animal. He was dejectedly running through his battle log, recalling the scene in Egypt. The log reminded him how he had been speeding away from the fighting, attempting to find a safe place to conceal the Witwicky parents. Then came the blasts. Heavy fire, one after the other. Judy Witwicky had been screaming hysterically about her son, but Bee did not need this as an incentive to turn around. Sam had told him to save his parents, and Bee did not want to defy Sam, but had had feared too much for the boy's life after leaving him alone. And on top of this, he had been able to sense Megatron had come into the area.

He could remember very clearly the tight u-turn he'd made, the strain on his engine as he'd caught a brief glimpse of Megatron and pushed himself faster, the Witwickys yelling from the backseat as they were tossed about. Had he not buckled them in? How could he call himself a guardian? Nearer, and the bot's sensors had been able to pick up on Sam's biological statistics: his heart rate and breathing were elevated, temperature rising. Then Megatron had again risen from the dust and with a blast from his cannons, Sam flatlined. Bee's Spark had leapt into this throat, but even with the needle on the speedometer threatening to push past the pin and snap, he had been unable to reach Sam until the human medics were already shocking his heart and warning everyone to stay clear. They hadn't been successful; Sam had laid there lifeless through several rounds of defibrillation. The medical officers had been shaking their heads and starting to put down their equipment. Then, just as suddenly, his charge was alive again, gasping for breath and looking about wildly, trying to locate Optimus and the Matrix. It had been a miracle.

The next thing Bumblebee knew, the unthinkable had happened.

Just as quickly as Witwicky had jolted back to life, The Fallen had pounced, pinning the boy's legs beneath a foot, spear thrust forward to both pierce and crush Sam's torso.

The Autobot could even these several days later feel the burn of the outraged shriek that had forced its way through his mangled vocal processor as he jumped forward. He was too late. The Fallen had claimed the matrix and vanished before Bee could even hope to reach Sam.

The log became scattered and unfocused. Mikaela's screams. Sam's parents' tears. The limp, ragged form in his hands. The Witwickys scrambling onto his palms to hold their boy as Bee held them. Metallic screeches from fighting in the distance. Ironhide, he knew, had been a part of it. Arcee, Sideswipe- both offlined. An angry curse from Megatron. Then light. An impossibly bright white beam ripping through the sky. It had been too late- they had lost.

His fellow Autobots had retreated, gone to stand by the human soldiers they had fought alongside in their final few moments together. Some ancient programming associated with the machine had kicked in and run a countdown across their optics. Goodbyes. Tears. Apologies. Bee had clutched his human family to his chestplate to shield them from the oncoming blast though he had realized it was futile. In the end he had held only burnt ashes. The sun had imploded, the overwhelming amount of Energon drawn by the machine hitting the pyramid and surrounding area all at once, nearly overloading his circuits. The Fallen, failing to consider his aged wiring, was offlined by his own plan as the pure Energon burnt through his systems, rendering him little more than a smoldering metal statue. Jetfire suffered the same fate.

And Optimus.

Optimus, either by the intense flux of Energon or some final defiance of The Fallen by Primus, had shuddered back online with a pained groan. Ratchet had set upon him immediately, hurriedly performing the manipulations necessary to override their barely conscious leader into a forced transformation. Ratchet had glared up at him, bathed in a weird glow of Energon and sparks from his welding equipment, and ordered harshly, **Bumblebee. Get moving. You must find somewhere safe for us to regroup. **The younger bot started to launch a wordless protest, but the medical officer had cut him off- **That's an ORDER. If we do not save Optimus, the next planet will stand no chance against that Decepticon scum.**

With that, Bee had transformed, letting the remains of all that had been important to him in the last two years slip through his armored fingers…

_"I believe Argent would appreciate if you put him down."_

The Autobot started. He hadn't heard the two warriors return from the forest, and realized he was still holding the panicky silver elk. Hastily, he set the animal back on the ground with an apologetic noise. Ethiriel went to tether the creature again, asking,

_"We have built our fire now. Would you like to join us for dinner? Thalion and I welcome you."_

Bee nodded an affirmative, glad the native female had begun to stick to yes-or-no questions as he took the few short steps toward the campfire.

_"Do you eat meat?"_ she questioned, and he shook his head from one side to the other. Thalion seemed to catch on and was the next to speak.

_"Do you eat at all?"_ The Autobot hesitated a moment, then decided it would be simplest to shake his head no once more. They asked the alien a few more simple questions regarding his well-being before all lapsed into a peaceable silence. Later on, Bee had converted back to his Camaro form and gone around to perform a scan on each of his fellow bots, hoping maybe somebody would show signs of booting up again. However, all were firmly locked in stasis.

Ethiriel and Thalion looked on for a while, sensing his loneliness and anxiety, but unsure how to comfort such a being as these metal visitors, soon busied themselves with retrieving more fuel for their fire. When they returned the Chevy was parked close alongside the largest truck, its bright yellow standing out against the worn flame design on the Peterbuilt. However, both forms were only dimly visible in the scattered starlight that managed to find its way into the artificial clearing. The lights that came from the front of the strange vehicle were once more extinguished, leading them to believe he had once again gone to sleep.

Distraught, fender close enough to touch Prime's cool armor, Bumblebee did not bother to correct their assumption.


End file.
